How year 12 students can meet the challenge

Advice for the 2020 class of COVID. Concentrate on what you can change and don’t worry about what you can’t.

On one level it is difficult to offer reassurance to this year’s school leavers, the COVID class of 2020. If you’re in year 12 this year then unfortunately you face more uncertainty in your plans for 2021 than any other group of school leavers have for many decades.

Whether you are going to look for a job, plan a gap year, or intend to start tertiary education, obstacles loom.

Increasing joblessness means that going straight to the employment market is not very appealing. And a conventional gap year (particularly an overseas one funded by employment) looks next to impossible.

Which means that more year 12 students than usual are likely to head to university or to a TAFE or college for a vocational qualification.

UNI ENTRY GUIDE: Many ways to uni for class of Covid | Unis host virtual open days | Early offers ease the pressure | ATAR advantage from ‘gateway’ school | Enter uni on year 11 results | JobKeeper advantage for students |

So it’s important to maximise your Year 12 marks. But you’ve already suffered from a couple of months of studying from home and, in some parts of Australia, school opening remains unpredictable. This is making it difficult for you to give your Year 12 study your best shot.

Now you’ve had that dose of bad news, here are some more reassuring words.

Firstly, everybody is in the same boat. All students have been affected by the school COVID shutdown. If you are looking to get a good ATAR score this year you need to remember that the ATAR is a rank, not a mark. Given that all students are affected, you’re probably no worse off than others.

The other good news is that people in government, examining bodies, universities and other educational institutions understand your plight. Some year 12 subject requirements have been changed because of COVID. And universities have gone out of their way to make special entry provisions and to put information online.

See other stories which we have published about university entry in 2021 to get more information on what privileges Year 12 students may be eligible for as members of the class of COVID.

They include things such as ATAR adjustment at some universities if a student’s parents or guardian have been on JobKeeper or JobSeeker, and use of Year 11 results for university entry instead of Year 12.

Some universities have also expanded early entry programs, school recommendation schemes and transition to university programs. These types of schemes have long existed to help disadvantaged students, but for this year’s school leavers there are more of them with more places available. To find out what is applicable, you need to check with the universities you are planning to apply to. Your school’s career adviser would also have the information.

In short, there is support available for this year’s school leavers, and that is good news.

Unfortunately, there is also more less good news. As I’ve already mentioned, the tough labour market we are experiencing means that more people — both school leavers and older people — will want to go to university next year instead of fruitlessly hunt for a job. But it’s likely that universities will not have funding for the number of bachelor degree places they will need to satisfy demand.

Australian National University higher education specialist Andrew Norton has explored the technical detail of the reforms to university funding announced by Education Minister Dan Tehan in June. He finds that, while the changes are designed to deliver more bachelor degree places in the next few years, this won’t necessarily happen next year.

It could be that more students will be competing for a similar number of bachelor degree places.

But the truth is, if you’re a student planning to go to university next year, there’s not much you can do about this. And Mr Tehan’s changes won’t be implemented unless legislation passes the parliament and that means it needs to be supported in the Senate, for which the government needs cross bench support.

So don’t worry about it. Best put your effort into deciding which university courses are best suited to you, apply for them and then concentrate on your studies.

Good luck. Remember that being part of the COVID class of 2020 will be a great story to tell your grandchildren.